He may not have had much to do in his Halstead Town debut, but goalkeeper James Waters showed enough to tell manager Mark Benterman that he had made the right move in bringing him in.

The 24-year-old keeper made his first Humbugs appearance in their 1-0 Thurlow Nunn League First Division Knockout Cup win against Downham Town last weekend after joining from premier division side Stanway Rovers.

He joined as a replacement for Luke Banner, who is likely to miss the rest of the season with a broken finger and Benterman said he had brought Waters in after a recommendation from former Chelmsford City goalkeeper Nicky Eyre.

“James Waters came in after being highly recommended by Nicky,” said Benterman.

“He told me James was spot on and he was right because he’s been great.

“He has a great presence and dealt well with what he needed to against Downham.

“He only had one real save to make, but it was point-blank and there was another situation where he had to come and punch clear but he did it with such authority that you could see how good he is.

“I’ve been really impressed by his professional attitude.

“He’s been at Needham Market and Felixstowe in his career, but was at Stanway Rovers and I was thankful that (Rovers manager) Angelo (Harrop) deregistered him right away so he could come in for the Downham game.”